With water levels falling sharply in Baje Dam across the Swarna, which supplies water to Udupi city, the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) has urged the district administration to cut off power supply to irrigation pump (IP) sets in the area between Baje and Shiroor villages.
While Baje Dam is located about 18 km from here, the Shiroor Dam across the Swarna is located upstream about 25 km from the city. There are 72 irrigation pumpsets belonging to farmers on either side of the Swarna from Shiroor to Baje.
The water level at Baje Dam has reached the precarious four-metre mark, which is when the CMC presses the danger button. It wrote a letter to the Deputy Commissioner a couple of days ago, urging him to direct the Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (Mescom) to cut off power to these IP sets.
“The water level has gone down due to evaporation in the last six days and reached the four metre mark in Baje. We have opened two gates of Shiroor Dam and nearly 50 per cent of the water from there has reached Baje. But this has not increased the water level at Baje,” said CMC Assistant Engineer Ganesh K.
The district administration in turn has directed the Mescom to cut off electricity supply to the IP sets.
“We have been directed to stop daily power supply to the IP sets. However, the administration has said that power supply should be provided to these sets for 12 hours weekly. We will implement the orders from March 27,” said Santosh Naik, Assistant Executive Engineer of Mescom.
P. Yuvaraj, CMC president, said that the council had stopped round-the-clock water supply to Manipal University and the nearby gram panchayats. “We are providing water to Manipal University for 16 hours a day and to the nearby gram panchayats for a couple of hours daily,” he said.
The CMC started providing drinking water on alternate days in the city since March 2. Presently, the CMC is supplying water through tankers to houses in upstream areas in the city, where water was not reaching.
“People should stop construction activities, watering their gardens and washing their vehicles. It is necessary to preserve water for drinking. Wastage of water should be avoided,” Mr. Yuvaraj said.
High evaporation brings down level of water in the dam to four metres
Mescom to supply power to irrigation pumpsets for 12 hours weekly only
